Trio of breweries scheduled to open in Colorado Springs
Unpack the camping trailer. Tear up those airline tickets. You're not going to want to leave Colorado Springs this summer.
Three new breweries will open in the city in the coming months, and each promises to bring something unique to the local beer scene.
The Summer of Suds kicks off Saturday with the unveiling of Rocky Mountain Brewery, the fulfillment of a 27-year goal by Duane Lujan, owner of Winecrafters and the former My Homebrew Shop.
Setting up at 625 Paonia St. in the old Blick's Brewery, Lujan is not going to brew beer for the "NASCAR/ Coors Light/Bud Light drinker." With only a tasting room and a pile of menus for people to order delivery food from area restaurants, he plans to try unorthodox combinations.
In addition to smoked hefeweizen that will greet patrons immediately, Lujan promises both red- and green-chile beers in the next year.
He's likely to tap up a toasted coconut porter that his partner created. And he'll line up a nut brown ale, hoppy red ale and blonde ale on nitrogen, just so you can say you picked up a brunette, redhead and blonde.
Roughly two months down the road, Rocky Mountain will be joined by Trinity Brewing, which will mark the return of former Bristol brewmaster Jason Yester. Setting up in a strip mall at 1466 Garden of the Gods Road, Yester is preparing a brewpub both earth-friendly and family-friendly.
The initial offerings will have a heavy Belgian quality, from a farmhouse saison to orange-peel-and-coriander wheat. The food will be organic and locally grown.
Where Yester and partner Todd Walton will break new ground is by offering about 30 beers on tap - and not the taps you'll find at downtown meat markets.
Belgian masterpieces such as Cantillon Gueuze, Colorado gems such as New Belgium La Folie and the formerly impossible-to-getin-Colorado Pliny the Elder double IPA will mingle with Yester's creations.
Music will be acoustic rather than loud, and to encourage conservation, Yester will knock 10 percent off the tabs of anyone who bikes or hikes to the brewery rather than drives there.
The timing of the third brewery opening remains a mystery. Warehouse Restaurant owner Chip Johnson promises, however, that the eatery at 25 W. Cimarron St. will reopen its years-dormant brewing operation in the next few months.
Johnson is keeping details of the beer and his brewer secretive while he deals with federal tax issues and paperwork, but he's looking at Belgian-style ales and fruit beers with local ingredients. "I'm going to do things a little different," he said.
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CONTACT THE WRITER: 1-303-837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com.
